An-Nur · Madani · ayah 35 of 64

An-Nur 24:35

۞ ٱللَّهُ نُورُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ مَثَلُ نُورِهِۦ كَمِشْكَوٰةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ ۖ ٱلْمِصْبَاحُ فِى زُجَاجَةٍ ۖ ٱلزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّىٌّ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُّبَـٰرَكَةٍ زَيْتُونَةٍ لَّا شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلَا غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِىٓءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ ۚ نُّورٌ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ ۗ يَهْدِى ٱللَّهُ لِنُورِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَيَضْرِبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْأَمْثَـٰلَ لِلنَّاسِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

“Allāh is the Light[996] of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light[997] is like a niche within which is a lamp;[998] the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allāh guides to His light whom He wills. And Allāh presents examples for the people, and Allāh is Knowing of all things.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The ayah opens on the heavens and the earth, then shows you a lamp in a wall, and the lamp is you.

A reflection

Every light you have been proud of

Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. Before anything else, sit with the size of that sentence.

Every light you have ever stood in is inside it. The sun on the back of your neck, the streetlamp, the glow of a phone on a face at midnight. And the other kinds: the spotlight, the applause, the moment a room turns to look at you. The commentaries give the phrase several senses. He guides everyone in the heavens and the earth. He orders their affairs. He lit them, and every light in them comes from Him. On any of those readings, nothing that shines on you is yours.

Picture a motivational speaker under stage lights, an hour into a talk about self-belief. A technician hits the wrong switch and the stage goes black. For three seconds he is only a voice in the dark, and he knows it. Then the lights return, and so does the confidence.

That is the ego in a sentence. It mistakes borrowed light for its own. Pride is the habit of forgetting where the switch is. This ayah does not crush the speaker. It simply tells him, calmly, whose stage it is.

A sceptic may ask whether it is vain of God to call Himself the light of everything. But vanity is claiming what is not yours. In a creature, pride is a lie; in Allah, the same words are simply true. He is free of need (35:15), and our praise adds nothing to Him. The Prophet ﷺ began his night prayer with these words: You are the light of the heavens and the earth. He was not flattering. He was getting his bearings before standing in the dark.

The humbling is a relief. A person who stops pretending to glow can finally see by the light he was given.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.